Author: planorcan

Boxing Day, July 1

planorcanLeave a comment
Pink celery doing the classic lie in front of the group pose

Hi John,

So…I’m still learning this platform. And was not feeling the best. And some weeks, apparently, I use the draft version to reference for meal planning all week instead of actually pressing publish. Here it is, belatedly. Who knows what edits came in when.

In This Week’s Box

  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • Tart Cherries
  • 7082 Cucumber
  • English Peas
  • Fresh Red Onions
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Pink Celery
  • Red Chard
  • Red Cylindra Beets

Garden Potential

  • Occasional ground cherry
  • Basil! Thai or lime
  • Oregano
  • Rosemary
  • Maybe a plum or three from the community tree

Still in the Fridge

  • Yellow Peaches
  • Cherries
  • Herbs: Parsley, Fennel, Dill, Cilantro
  • Greens: Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, Lettuce, Dandelion, Cabbage
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Radish, Red and French Breakfast
  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Onions
  • Beets
  • Parsnip
  • Sunchokes

Meals to Maybe Make

  • Patty pan squash with chickpeas is still on the menu
  • Peas on toast!
  • Pea risotto if the heat breaks?
  • Also if the heat breaks, zucchini tacos?
  • We could still roast beets to make beet yogurt. And we can keep shredding them to go on salads.
  • I was looking in Six Seasons for the celery salads that I like, but then saw this one for cucumber and celery and apricots. We are totally making that ASAP.
  • Cherry pie! We have tart cherries and I want to see how they work in the amazing cherry pie of goodness.
  • Greens jam! [Edit to add, I ended up dehydrating instead of cooking all the way to jam so we’ll have them for our backpacking trip)

~s

Boxing Day, June 24

planorcanLeave a comment

Hi John,

You’ve been busy with conference this week, so haven’t been keeping tabs on the kitchen or seeing the garden. So you didn’t know that we actually finished off our stock of lettuces at lunch yesterday. After a month or two of getting multiple varieties of lettuce each week, I think we’re shifting seasons. Appropriate, since it’s post solstice.

When I went to water on Tuesday, there were happy surprises. Our first ground cherries were ready! And our dill was too. We’ve read that dill is a good companion for tomatoes,but that mature dill isn’t. But I’m not sure what qualifies as mature dill. Guessing that it’s when the plant flowers, I pulled up what we have. It’s too early to use it for pickles, but perfect timing for your family tradition of dill dip.

In This Week’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Broccoli
  • Green Cabbage
  • Green Dandelion
  • Green Kale
  • Red Butterhead Lettuce
  • Red Tomatoes
  • Spring Onions

Garden Potential

  • Occasional ground cherry
  • Raspberries for sharing
  • Thai Basil
  • Oregano
  • Rosemary

Still in the Fridge

  • Yellow Peaches
  • Herbs: Parsley, Fennel, Dill, Cilantro
  • Greens: Red Kale, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens
  • Fava beans
  • Broccoli
  • Radish, Red and French Breakfast
  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Cucumber
  • Kohlrabi
  • Beets
  • Parsnip
  • Sunchokes
Two green tomatoes hiding behind a stem
Our first baby tomatoes!

Meals to Maybe Make

  • Tomato + lettuce = BLT time. I know it’s a classic, but it’s hard to get the good tomatoes in before the lettuce is disappointing. Here’s to trying anyway.
  • Dinner tonight is going to be the fava beans with potatoes and cilantro (picked from the herb plot at the garden) in a tomato sauce from Six Seasons. It looks like a play on shakshuka or eggs in purgatory and I’m so looking forward to it. Just yesterday was using garden goodies to make raspberry cheesecake and dill dip.
  • We have so much broccoli. And it’s very pretty broccoli. I may be leaning towards roasting it up with lemon and feta again. Munching on the stalks with the dill dip. Six Seasons has a pasta with broccoli and sausage that looks tempting if we want more meat.
  • If we can get more cilantro and it’s not too hot, maybe make this swiss chard soup? Include the beet greens too. And if not cilantro, we could try it with some of the remaining dill.
  • Patty pan squash with chickpeas
  • We can roast the beets to make beet yogurt. And we can keep shredding them to go on salads.
  • If we do pizza, let’s do the kale and sunchoke combo again. We don’t have a gluten free crust at the ready though, so I’m guessing no pizza.

The cherries need to be used ASAP. As amazing as that pie was, I’m not sure I want to make another one. If only because I want to eat the cheesecake first.

Last week’s greens weren’t stored the best while we went camping, so they should be cooked up sooner rather than later. We can consider whether we want to put the dandelions in with them or add to a salad.

The radish, turnips, and kohlrabi have been here fore several weeks. They’re getting used in salads and storing just fine. We’ve already cut into the cucumber, so we’ll want to keep using it up. When the salad fits.

We’re down to one parsnip lingering in the bottom of the box. Maybe we should roast it up at the same time as the beets just to get it done.

The cabbage will keep. I expect we’ll use it in a slaw sometime soon. Perhaps with leftover broccoli…

~s

Boxing Day, June 17

planorcanLeave a comment

Hi John,

So trying to pack for a camping trip and buying a house and meal planning all at once was not a success. We did not forget anything necessary for the camping trip! We got the offer in on the house! We got a contract on the house. We got earnest money deposited for the house. We did the home inspection. We walked on our contract for the house. Meals happened.

In This Last Week’s Box

  • Cherry plums
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Broccoli
  • Red Beets with Greens
  • Green Zucchini
  • English Peas
  • Fava Beans
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Red Kale
  • Sweet Basil

Still in the Fridge

  • Herbs: Parsley, Fennel, Green Onions
  • Greens: Spinach, Lettuce
  • Radish, Red and French Breakfast
  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Kohlrabi
  • Parsnips
  • Sunchokes

What We Ate

  • Cherry pie using four types of foraged sweet cherries and a combination of multiple recipes
  • Campfire pocket stew with carrot and parsnip and potato and cherry tomatoes. Yours was fine. Mine got burnt.
  • Quinoa salad with turnip and raw zucchini and carrot and creamy ginger dressing
  • Pizza with pesto and mozz and lemon slices and broccoli and zucchini and feta
  • Tuna melt zucchini bake from Six Seasons
  • Peas Pasta Carbonara from Six Seasons. The gluten free pasta didn’t result in a sauce so much as a broth, but still good.

I’ll try to be back tomorrow with actual plans in advance.

~s

Boxing Day, June 10

planorcanLeave a comment

Hi John,

It’s CSA delivery day. It wasn’t too bad when I walked to pick things up, but the walk home was getting hot and humid. And then I hopped on the bike and went back for the bread and eggs that wouldn’t fit in my first bags. Still prefer that to your errand experience in this afternoon’s rainstorm. Even if we both arrived home dripping wet.

In This Week’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • White Kohlrabi
  • Broccoli
  • Head Lettuce
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Vidalia Onions
  • White Scallions

Still in the Fridge

  • Herbs: Parsley, Fennel, Green Onions
  • Greens: Escarole, Spinach, Lettuce
  • Radish, Red and French Breakfast
  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Kohlrabi
  • Parsnips
  • Sunchokes

Brainstorming Some Meals

  • Peas on bread with the garlic chive cream cheese I made last week!
  • Roasted broccoli with feta and lemon
  • Pizza! With broccoli and feta? With radish and chevre? With spinach and sunchokes (Again? But it was so good…)
  • We have kale AND kohlrabi! So we can make the kale and kohlrabi salad that I like.
  • Clearly we need to make more salad. Maybe a cucumber, onion, and yogurt salad? Maybe maybe lettuce with cucumber, blueberries, and poppyseed dressing?
  • Betsy texted a recipe for lettuce soup that she made. We might be at the point where we need to try that. Or the stir-fried lettuce we made last year. Or lettuce wraps, though I’m not sure what I want to put in them. The spring rolls from a few weeks ago
  • We have blueberries and peaches. Do we go ahead and make the pie now? It feels early for it and I might rather get more mulberries for another cobbler first….

We really should prioritize using up the escarole–I was hoping to repeat the salad we made last year with escarole, roasted beets and rhubarb, goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and mustard dressing. But it’s been three weeks and we haven’t gotten beets. Maybe try with turnips, even though they’re not as sweet as beets.

I think I’m going to try to eat the peas early too. It feels like a meal I want on bread more than toast. And using some of the broccoli for dinner tonight because it is bulky and sometimes you don’t want to give things all the fridge space.

Other than that, I don’t see any obvious priorities. Eat and enjoy!

~s

We have a garden!

planorcanLeave a comment
Before: Blurry photos from an email before we saw the plot.
After: The view today. Clearer and cleaner. Still at the beginning.

June 9, 2021

Dear John,

“We have a garden plot!”

Three Fridays back you happily announced that we had an email that there was a plot available and we were, finally, at the top of the waiting list.

Saturday morning, we went to look at the plot and started weeding. The member coordinator said it’d be a lot of work, and they’d keep us at the top of the waitlist if we couldn’t commit. I was a little hesitant, but knew that we’d waited long enough.

We weeded. Left the volun-beans alone. Pruned rosemary. Cut and dried oregano (so much oregano). Uncovered a tomato plant. Identified dill. Harvested onions that were no longer underground. Took pictures to try to determine if that sprout is a squash. The algorithm says 40% sure it’s a melon. We haven’t pulled it yet.

It took a ten days to get the wood to rebuild.* A few more weekdays to assemble and fill with soil.

Meanwhile, we plotted about what to plant, interviewing your mom about square foot gardening and looking through websites that sell heirloom seeds. It’s late to start from seeds here, so we asked around until we found a source for ground cherry and tomatillo seedlings. While we were there, we picked up heirloom tomatoes–cherry, roma, and beefsteak–and peppers–both hot and sweet. Basil and cilantro and Mexican mint marigold and basil. Eggplant and cucumber.

By this Sunday, we had everything in the ground.

Now we water and wait. And keep weeding.

Love,

~Sarah

Then: Weeds and mystery.
Now: Beans, tomatoes, basil.

Produce This Week

We’re still working on cutting back the oregano and rosemary. I expect they won’t thrive as much in the humidity of summer.

It’s worth stopping by the berry bramble as you leave the garden. When I looked yesterday the raspberries were darkening from pink to purple. Soon, they promise. Soon.

We have dried so. much. oregano.

Plans For the Produce

There’s more of the herbs than we can use right now, so they’re getting dried. Honestly, a peanut butter jar filled with oregano is more than we will use in the coming year, so we’re already on mission give things away. For the herbs, I’m thinking we’ll package them in snack bags and offer them at the food pantry.

I don’t expect any more of the onions to need to be pulled. But if I’m wrong, they’ll probably end up getting chopped and tossed in the jar with the others already quick pickled. Check the recipe on Budget Bytes if they need more brine.

*I have a full on rant about how in a community garden the physical structure of the raised beds, and the soil to fill them should be community maintained over the fall/winter. Rather than putting the full cost and labor on whoever is the unlucky plot sharer who happens to get the plot in a year when it needs to be rebuilt. And, honestly, I think I’d still have this opinion even if lumber prices weren’t rocketing up.